Imagination Forest
by HeteroChromium
Summary: "Because you've come into my life, all my worries have disappeared."


**This is sooo overdue. I wrote this for the BPS OTP battle which was a loooonnnggg time ago and only posted this up now. Whoops, sorry :P I'll be posting up the rest of the stuff I did for the OTP battle sooner or later so... please read them...**

**For those who read and are waiting for the new chapter of Silent Presence, I'm so sorry for the long wait :( Let's just say that I love procrastinating. I promise to update soon and if I don't do it after 2 weeks, please come hound me.**

**For those **who read and are waiting for the new chapter of The Prince and the Wizard, I'm sorry as well. I wrote a quarter of the chapter out already but I'm stuck somewhere so... please forgive me!****

****The idea was taken from the song Imagination Forest sung by IA.****

****Anyways, enjoy :)****

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As a pale hand forced open the wooden framed windows of the tiny cottage, his ears were met with the sweet sounds of birds tweeting in the air as a fresh breeze blew past his his face, waking him up properly from a lonely night's rest.

Gently, the boy reached for the bird that had just landed on the window sill, carefully stroking its head before releasing it to begin his daily activities. Kuroko Tetsuya walked over to the small kitchen to prepare breakfast. A simple breakfast of bread and hard boiled egg would suffice. He lived alone and didn't have a very large appetite, after all. And he wasn't expecting anyone else either.

After breakfast, he brewed himself a pot of chrysanthemum tea before pouring it into a large tea cup and heading out to the dining area. The cottage was rather plain, consisting only of a dining area, a kitchen and a bedroom upstairs. Bookshelves lined the walls of the home and was jammed pack with books of various genres and sizes.

Siting down at the dining table, Kuroko placed his tea cup to the side and picked up the thick book that was lying on the wooden table, taking out the bookmark and continuing where he had left off last night.

Ever since he could remember and even before that, Kuroko had always lived in that same cottage in the heart of a large, dense forest filled with beautiful plants and gentle wildlife creatures. He had never gone too far from his home except to the nearby store that the edge of the forest to buy some food supplies. He never really went out to play with the forest animals either anymore, unlike when he was younger. He winced whenever he recalled what had happened the last time he went out to play so he tried his best not to remember.

The books he had were all left behind by his father who, he was told, had travelled far and wide across the lands because of his job. His father never failed to bring back many books from the places he visited since he knew that his son would want to know about the outside world. There were photo albums, too, where his father would place pictures of the places he had taken when he travelled. It stopped when Kuroko was seven years old and his father died of a plane crash. He had been buried in the meadow near the edge of the forest.

Kuroko, never having gone out to the world himself, always treasured the wonderful books and pictures that his father had given him. Silently, he wondered when it would be _his _turn to go out to see the world. Then, he chided himself and reminded himself _why _he couldn't go out. No, he couldn't risk it.

But still, how he longed to be whisked away from the cottage. But still, how he longed to able to have some company other than the woodland animals. But still, how he longed to hear a knock at his door.

Days passed by and Kuroko's routine repeated, never once breaking. Until one day. As Kuroko placed his tea - this time, blue mallow tea - on the dining table and was about to continue reading his book about the world, he heard something. It was the sound of footsteps, dangerously close to his house.

Heart hammering in anticipation and slight terror, he waited. And waited. And waited. Just as his heart calmed down and he presumed it was just a figment of his imagination which had been craving for company, he heard it.

A knock on his door.

Leaping out of his seat in terror, he accidentally spilled his tea over his book as the tea cup rolled off the table and shattered to the floor. Some of it's glass shards came flying upwards and cut Kuroko's pale, smooth skin, causing him to cry out in pain as he stood, frozen, watching a crimson trail make its way down his hand.

The knocking halted before Kuroko heard a creak of the door opening. Immediately, he tilted his down, forcing his eyes to look downwards. However, he did manage to catch a glimpse of a bright, warm shade of red.

He heard footsteps approaching as the figure walked up towards him, reaching out a hand to hold his bleeding one gently. His voice, ever so calm and deep, rang out, "That looks painful. Let me help you."

Carefully leading Kuroko towards the kitchen, he turned on the tap and tenderly washed off the blood before taking out a piece of cloth and gently wrapping it around Kuroko's hand. "There, all done."

As the stranger let go of Kuroko's hand, Kuroko missed the warm hand wrapped around his own. But he didn't mention it. And he still wouldn't meet the other's eyes.

Apparently, the stranger noticed it as well. "Hey, why won't you look at me?" He asked before chuckling good-naturedly. "I'm not that ugly, you know."

"It's not that," Kuroko muttered shyly as the stranger grasped his hand again, relishing in the warmth the other gave.

"Are you afraid?" The person asked. "Don't be."

Then, Kuroko remembered. He remembered his mother telling him everyday not to look into other people's eyes. "They'll turn to stone," she had warned him. He had heeded her words so even when a few children approached him one day when he was playing outside the house, he refused to make eye contact with them. Then, everything turned horribly wrong.

The other children started pulling his hair and pushing him, laughing at him, taunting him. Hearing his cries, his mother had rushed out and took him away, but not before casting an enraged red eye over the children and they immediately froze and turned grey, hardening into stone. After comforting Kuroko, she had taken away the statues. But from then on, her health declined and soon, she had joined her husband in the afterlife, leaving behind her only son, alone in the world.

"Why are you crying?" The stranger's voice jolted Kuroko back to the present and he realised that yes, he _was _crying. Something that he hadn't done in a long time because he refused to remember that tragic memory. Tears coursed their way down his cheeks and he sniffed quietly.

The stranger tried to get Kuroko to look at him and cheer up but Kuroko refused to, afraid of turning such a nice person to stone. Sighing, the stranger forced him to look up and Kuroko's eyes were met with crimson and gold hues. The boy was handsome, to say the least, and about the same age as Kuroko himself.

The stranger took a sharp intake of air before murmuring, "Your eyes are really pretty… Is that why you wouldn't show them to me?"

Blinking Kuroko asked what he was talking about. The boy laughed before taking out an object which he called a phone and switching it on and pressing a button. Kuroko jumped back in surprise when he saw his reflection in the glass. He looked almost the same as ever, with his light blue hair and pale features. But something was different.

"My eyes aren't red," he breathed out quietly, staring at the mirror-like object in fascination.

"When was the last time you looked into a mirror?" The boy asked.

"Years ago."

The boy remained quiet for a moment, as though in deep thought before asking, "Are you a medusa?"

Upon hearing that term, Kuroko stiffened. He had heard his mother call themselves that before, and he had read all the stories about medusas. He didn't find them very pleasant. "Yes, I think I am. My mother was. And my grandmother was too. But my father and grandfather were human."

"So you're only a quarter," the boy concluded. "That may explain why your eyes aren't red all the time. In fact, their the loveliest shade of blue I've ever seen."

The compliment made Kuroko's cheeks heat up for some reason, to the amusement of the stranger. For some strange reason, he found himself oddly comfortable with the stranger. Then, he remembered something.

"What's your name?" Kuroko asked the handsome stranger shyly.

"Akashi," the boy smirked. "Akashi Seijuurou."

"Hello, Akashi-kun. I'm Kuroko Tetsuya," Kuroko introduced.

"Nice to meet you too, Tetsuya," Akashi grinned before proceeding to show Kuroko his 'phone' and tugging at his hand, walking Kuroko out of the forest and past that little convenience store. He brought Kuroko to a nearby city called Kyoto, where the boy lived. Showing him the sights, Kuroko wondered how life would be like, with the addition of the kind and caring redhead.

There was only one thing he knew. And that was that he was looking forward to the days with the other and he treasured their relationship.

_ "If I'm ever lost, hey will you search for me once again?"_

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**As always, please leave a review and tell me how it was :) Is it good? Bad? If it is, please tell me how to improve! :D**


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